World naval powers

Naval power is part of power projection, which is the capacity of a country to deploy and sustain forces outside its territory. In the age of hypersonic missiles, navies, and particularly supercarriers are considered vulnerable.

According to a video posted to YouTube by the Wall Street Journal on April 17, 2024, China has over 200 times the United States shipbuilding capacity. The Wall Street Journal claims more than half of the world's shipbuilding came from China alone in 2023. The US accounted for less than 1% of that.

The Wall Street Journal stated that the US Department of Defense reported China had over 370 battle force ships, about 78 more than the US. By 2030, China expects to reach 435 ships while the US fleet is projected to stay the same size or get smaller.

World's most powerful navy rankings, 2023

Below are the most powerful navies in the world as of 2023:

1. United States
2. China
3. Russia
4. Indonesia
5. South Korea
6. India
7. Japan
8. France
9. United Kingdom
10. Turkey
11. Italy
12. Taiwan

US Navy

U.S. Navy seal

The US Navy remains a very powerful global force.

Propaganda videos on the U.S. Navy

• Why the US is NOT afraid of the largest Navy in the world, yet
• How Did the US Navy Get So Powerful? - Evolution from the 13 Colonies to WWII
• The most powerful navies in the world
• How America Grew The Most Powerful Navy In The World | War Factories | Timeline

Videos: U.S. Navy vs. China's navy wargame scenarios:

• What Aircraft Carriers Reveal About the Military Tech Race | WSJ U.S. vs. China, Wall Street Journal, 2022
• 350 STRONG CHINESE NAVY FLEET AGAINST 293 WARSHIPS LOADED U.S NAVY FORCE - ITS QUANTITY vs QUALITY!, Defense Updates channel, 2020
• China's Navy vs The US Navy - Who Would Win the South Pacific Sea
• US Navy vs. Chinese Navy: The Genius Technique US Aircraft Carriers Against China
• Is the Navy ready? How the U.S. is preparing amid a naval buildup in China

China's combat ready hypersonic missiles and U.S. aircraft carriers:

• No, Chinese hypersonic missiles have not made US aircraft carriers obsolete, The Telegraph, 2023

• Incoming: Can Aircraft Carriers Survive Hypersonic Weapons?, National Defense Magazine

• China’s hypersonic missiles threaten US power in the Pacific – an aerospace engineer explains how the weapons work and the unique threats they pose, The Conversation, 2023

Videos:

• This is How US Aircraft Carriers Survive Russian Hypersonic Missile Attacks, Fortress Defense, 2023
• Can Aircraft Carriers be Protected from Hypersonic Weapons, Military Television

U.S. hypersonic missiles still in developmental phase:

• The U.S. Just Admitted They Created A Hypersonic Missile So Advanced It Can't Be Stopped

Peoples Republic of China

See also: South China Sea

The Wall Street Journal reported on May 29, 2025 that China’s economic growth has allowed it to build a military that rivals the US. A single Chinese shipbuilder in 2024 produced more commercial ships by tonnage than the entire United States shipbuilding industry built since World War II, according to the US government and military-industrial complex-funded Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). The scale of China’s commercial shipbuilding subsidizes its production of naval vessels and, in a war, capacity could be shifted from freighters to warships.

The CSIS published a June 2024 article titled, Unpacking China’s Naval Buildup. In it, CSIS admits China’s large and growing advantage in terms of shipbuilding while also acknowledging a growing crisis across what remains of American shipbuilding capacity.

Since 2000, China has built more than twice as many naval vessels as the US, according to defense intelligence company Janes.

PLA Navy

The PLA Navy had a 335-ship fleet as of 2019, about 55 percent larger than in 2005. Based on this expansion speed, the PLA Navy fleet is projected to have more than 450 ships and about 110 submarines by 2030.

PLA Maritime Militia

The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) is a set of mariners and their vessels which are trained, equipped, and organized directly by the PLA’s local military commands. While at sea, these units typically answer to the PLA chain of command, and are certain to do so when activated for missions. While most militiamen have civilian jobs, new units are emerging that appear to employ elite forces full-time as militarized professionals.

PLA Maritime Militia anchored at Whitsun Reef, March 2021.

Leading elements of China’s Maritime Militia have already played frontline roles in manifold Chinese incidents and skirmishes with foreign mariners throughout the South China Sea. PAFMM forces were directly involved in China’s harassment of USNS Impeccable in 2009, seizure of Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012, blockade of Manila’s outpost on Second Thomas Shoal in 2014, and confrontation with Vietnam over oil drilling platform HYSY-981 in 2014.

Professor Andrew Erickson of the US Naval War College said Militia trawlers have been portrayed in Chinese media as armed with machineguns and carrying firearms for their crews. But these are not their primary weapons. “The ships themselves are the main weapon. Far larger and stronger than typical fishing vessels from the Philippines or other South China Sea neighbours, their comparatively robust hull designs — with additional rub strakes welded onto the hull’s steel plating aft of the bow, and — typically — powerful mast-mounted water cannons, make them powerful weapons in most contingencies, capable of aggressively shouldering, ramming, and spraying overmatched civilian or police opponents.”

Once faced with Coast Guard or military opposition, these trawlers can fall back on their fishing guise. “Their supposed civilian status would come to the fore, especially for propaganda purposes,” Professor Erickson writes. “Against the US Navy or other capable foreign forces, they would become … human shields forcing consequential choices for rules of engagement. If China wants to be treated as a responsible power, it has to be honest and open about all three of its Armed Forces at sea — the Navy, Coast Guard, and Maritime Militia — not conceal key vessels as “civilian” fishing boats”.

UK Royal Navy

In January 2025 it was reported that the British Royal Navy nuclear attack submarines, a vital contingent of the NATO force structure, confused farting whales with Russian underwater drones.

External link

• THE AGE OF AMERICAN NAVAL DOMINANCE IS OVER, The Atlantic, MARCH 13, 2023

• Why China's Navy is a JOKE by Colonel Douglas Macgregor